In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

However, over this period of time, he could sense that Shen Qin's hostility towards him seemed to have lessened—this was not because his good sister's attitude had changed, but simply because of the inevitable consequence of the continuous loss of memories related to Shen He.

Even the faint, ethereal "Shenhe aura" emanating from him was a factor that made the other party knowingly drink poison to quench their thirst, despite knowing it was impossible.

Until this day.

As night fell, just after seeing Xia Ke'an off to play with the mischievous children on the island, Xu Shi discovered that he had another little tail following him.

He didn't care who the other person was, and even deliberately led them in circles.

Then, in a secluded corner, he suddenly turned around and asked, "Little Ling, why have you been following me?"

"I……"

Pan Ling, who was not far away, peeked out from behind the tree, clearly embarrassed that he had discovered her. "I, I'm fine..."

"You still say it's nothing?"

Xu Shi's tone hardened slightly, "Come here."

Xiao Ling then cautiously approached.

"I'm not a bad person, why are you so afraid of me?"

Xu Shi smiled and gestured for her to sit down on a nearby rock. "You must have something on your mind since you're following me this late... Just tell me what it is."

He knew that his younger sister was introverted by nature. These days, he had often gone to Pan Cheng's house to eat, drink, and have fun. Pan Ling had always been like this, keeping her distance from him. After learning swordsmanship from Xia Wuyou for a few days with her sister, she never went there again.

On the contrary, the outgoing older sister, Pan Feng, addressed Xu as "Uncle Xu" so affectionately.

"...I, I do have something to ask you."

His attitude was very gentle, which reassured Xiaoling a little. "But, if I tell you about this, I'm afraid you'll be unhappy..."

How would you know if you didn't tell me?

Xu Shi patiently guided me; communicating with Yin Ka is really troublesome...

"Then, I'll tell you."

Since that was the case, Pan Ling stopped hiding it and boldly spoke out.

"Uncle Xu, you...you were lying that day, weren't you?"

? !

Xu Shi was stunned for a moment, but quickly realized that the little girl was referring to the conflict with Luo Yu that day.

"Why do you think so?"

Xu Shi found it amusing, so he asked in return.

"No, it's not that I think it, it's that I can feel it..."

Pan Feng stammered in response, "I... I've always been able to roughly sense what other people are thinking, so I know that although you were very polite that day and said it was okay, you didn't seem to really mean it... and you were the same when you explained it to my sister..."

Yo ho?

Xu Shi was even more surprised, clearly not expecting that she had come to expose him.

That was truly unexpected. After all, the girl is still so young. How could she, at only fifteen years old, see through so many things? Her older sister is a year older than her, and after explaining that day, everything was fine immediately.

"Then tell me, what are my true thoughts?"

Realizing this, Xu Shi looked at her with interest and asked.

"..."

Pan Ling remained silent. She didn't dare say that your true thoughts were dangerous, as dark as ink in her perception.

"Then let's rephrase the question: What else did you feel?"

Xu Shi thought about it and changed his words. Asking a child like that would indeed put them under psychological pressure.

"I... I can still sense that Father wasn't being sincere. He was intentionally hiding the truth from Brother Luo Yu and the rest of you..."

The young girl, Xiaofeng, was still quite naive and easily tricked into revealing information by him with just a few words.

good guy?

Xu Shi was a little surprised. How could she see through him so clearly?

In fact, he had long known that Pan Cheng also had his own selfish motives at the time. He was not only worried that if he really had ulterior motives, would he still be sitting here calmly? He was also worried that if he spoke out, his relationship with Pan Cheng would change. He also wanted to make those bronze knights suffer a loss.

After all, he was forced to go to sea and almost didn't make it back. It would be a lie to say he wasn't angry, but he couldn't openly resist, so he came up with this idea.

In a sense, this could be considered a case of using someone else to do someone a favor... Fortunately, Xu Shi was also unhappy at the time, so he didn't hold it against her afterwards and just treated it as a favor.

But when Pan Ling said those words, it was a different story altogether.

"So? What are you trying to tell me?"

Xu Shi gently beckoned with his finger, using a bit of his power, hoping to hear more from her.

"I... I just feel a little uneasy..."

Little Ling didn't notice, but suddenly felt a strong urge to confide in someone, so she lowered her eyes, her voice tinged with disappointment, "I always thought everyone should get along well, whether it's Father or Brother Luo Yu, but everyone always thinks more than they think, and there are many things they won't say... Including you, Uncle Xu, even though you haven't been here long, I don't want..."

It was clear that she was conflicted and somewhat at a loss in the face of this situation. These were all people she cherished, and of course she didn't want any infighting to occur.

Xu Shi nodded, finally realizing where her introverted nature came from.

Although he knew before that Pan Ling was also an "ascended one", he had never paid much attention to it or asked about it. Now it seems that her ability is related to mind reading.

Oh ~

This is an ability that only exists in flashbacks; Xu Shi's mother, Wen Rujin, possessed such an ability back then.

However, compared to her S-level mother, the girl in front of him was clearly far behind. He couldn't even sense her supernatural aura, indicating that she was still at a very basic level.

But even this seems like a burden for her. To know so many things at such a young age is a heavy gift.

In particular, most people's inner thoughts tend to be a bit dark, and knowing this only makes her distressed. She feels that everyone is two-faced, and with such thoughts swirling around her, it would be strange if she weren't introverted.

She can't tell anyone yet. If she did, wouldn't it be like telling everyone that she knows all their secrets? If that were the case, even her own father would probably have to be wary of her.

If I hadn't used my abilities, she probably wouldn't have spoken up so readily.

Hi.

After sorting out the cause and effect, Xu Shi suddenly felt sorry for the little girl. She had been bottling things up and really needed someone to comfort her.

and so.

He took a deep breath and then added more fuel to the fire.

"Have you ever tried to understand what your brother Luo Yu is thinking? Do you know... what he's thinking?"

Yay! The bonus chapter for the Alliance Leader is finally finished. It's a total of 20,000 words, which would be considered ten chapters for someone else...

I really didn't know how to end this chapter, so I simply combined the two parts into one.

Do I still owe anything? If so, I'll continue to pay it off...

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 217 Master, please accept my bow!

"I……"

Upon hearing Xu Shi's question, Pan Ling was momentarily speechless, remaining frozen in place for a long time.

It wasn't that she didn't know the answer, but rather that she didn't know how to answer, or perhaps she didn't want to answer.

Out of curiosity, she did try to sense Luo Yu's thoughts, but the result was completely different from what she had expected.

Both her father and Uncle Xu had ulterior motives beneath their outward appearances, which made her somewhat uncomfortable. She had originally thought that Brother Luo Yu would be different from them, but it turned out that he was the same in his heart... The wisps of darkness hidden beneath the light even made Xiao Ling shudder.

Why is Brother Luo Yu also...? But even so, she deliberately skipped over him just now, trying to avoid anything related to him.

This is the girl's own selfish desire. After all, Luo Yu is a very important person to her, and she sincerely hopes that he is different from others. Maybe this is just an isolated case?

“Tell me the answer.”

Xu Shi didn't give her that chance. He stared into her eyes and asked her in a low, serious voice.

"Brother Luo Yu, he, he, he..."

Pan Ling couldn't stand his tone and told him everything tremblingly.

Her tone was almost mechanical, "He deliberately made things difficult for you, and, and stood by and did nothing, he didn't care about those servants either, he, he seems to have always had it, he already had it..."

"What is it?"

"...there was the idea of ​​eliminating them..."

Xiao Ling quietly finished her sentence.

After listening to her finish recounting everything in fits and starts, Xu Shi nodded meaningfully.

Just as he had estimated... He still needed to confirm it, and after discovering that Pan Ling had this ability, he began to have designs on her.

This is not difficult for him either—with the blessing of "Yujing", his use of "entropy of evil thoughts" has become more flexible than before. He can use it in a wide range of ways, and he can also force others to reveal their true feelings, just like now.

It's hard to say how it will work against high-level "Ascensions," but it's definitely effective against beginners like this.

This approach won't leave any seeds, and Xu Shi doesn't want to either. The little girl is a friend's daughter; to actually do this to her would be too inhumane.

...It's talking about the seed of evil.

But it was clear that even so, Pan Ling was still unable to withstand such a mental shock. Although her eyes were gradually regaining their clarity, she collapsed onto the stone as if all her strength had been drained, panting heavily, seemingly having difficulty breathing.

It took her a while to calm down completely.

"Woo, woo woo..."

But after she returned to normal, she couldn't help but burst into tears, "No, it shouldn't be like this, everyone... Waaah, I don't want this..."

She hadn't completely lost consciousness; she still knew what she had just done. Speaking out about the dark side of the person she admired was a cruel thing for her.

The more Xiaoling cried, the more heartbroken she became.

Xu Shi simply watched all of this quietly, and only returned to her side when she had cried until she had no strength left.

"You're very sad, aren't you?"